


A weed is but an unloved flower

by AlbieGeorge



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Also cheese, Candy floss if you like, Cute Blackcaps being cute and in love, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Sweet cheese?, You might need a shot of insulin after this, for my friend, or there abouts, that sounds gross, the sweetest kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 05:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlbieGeorge/pseuds/AlbieGeorge
Summary: A drabble, or 3 in quick succession, depending on your definition, to cheer up my stressed friend @maythefoursbewithyou.Prompt: Something adorable involving Matt Henry, Corey Anderson, and gardening.Ultra cute and entirely without plot.  Some minor house plant peril.  Characterisations of the boys based on @maythefoursbewithyou's ship defining series.Thanks to @angels_in_fishnets for invaluable translation assistance for a very British girl dipping her toe into New Zealand waters.





	A weed is but an unloved flower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maythefoursbewithyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maythefoursbewithyou/gifts).



Corey looked at it sadly, thoughtfully, his blond eyebrows knitted into a frown.

"I thought these things were impossible to kill." he said as he touched the leaves of the stricken money plant with surprising gentleness for the size of his hands.  The money plant wobbled pathetically, at least half of it slumped against the earth it was potted in.  Matt felt his face flush with shame.

"I don't know what I did wrong." he said quietly.

Corey turned to face him, concern in his eyes as the frown lifted to reveal them.

"Hey, it's not your fault." he said, moving instinctively to Matt and encircling him in his arms.  "I think you might have just overwatered it.  Y'know, you just... loved it too much."

Matt laughed, softly and sadly, into Corey's shoulder.

"You can love something _too much_?" he said, with a touch of vulnerability that he hadn't quite intended.

"No." said Corey resolutely, frowning at his own clumsy turn of phrase, "You just overfed it and it got a bit sad."  He smiled ruefully.  "Geez, I should know how that feels."

Matt smiled despite himself.

"Maybe that's why me and your mum get on."

Corey laughed at that, and pressed his nose into the cleft of Matt's collarbone.  Matt sighed quietly as Corey's big crooked grin faded to tiny gentle kisses against his skin, dotting upwards towards his jaw, and suddenly the money plant was forgotten.

\---

Matt had thought it was funny that Corey had taken to gardening as he recovered from his back surgery, until Corey had explained that he found it reassuring to see the effort and care he put in reliably rewarded with progress.  His plants grew taller and stronger more obviously and pleasingly that the bones and muscle healing with inexorable slowness in his lower back.  Matt often smiled fondly at the thought of his big, brawny boyfriend quietly nurturing this cheesy metaphor with trips to the gym and the garden centre.

In their weekday afternoons and quiet Sunday mornings, stolen haphazardly from training and drinks duty and endless bloody hotel rooms, Matt had often found Corey sitting quietly in his small garden, weeding or re-potting, humming gently to himself as he worked.  Later, he'd lie with his head on Corey's chest, a smudge of soil on his cheek, and ask Corey about his garden, enjoying the gentle vibrations of his voice as he told him earnestly what was coming into bloom next.

\---

The sombre mood of leaving weighed heavy on Matt's chest as he walked to his car and heard Corey's front door close slowly behind him.  He pressed his lips together, as if trying to hold on to the goodbye kisses, and felt in his pocket for his keys.

Slumping down into the driver's seat with an almighty sigh, something unfamiliar caught his eye from the passenger seat.  In the half light of the early morning, his sigh turned into a broad smile as he shook his head at his unexpected travelling companion.

His old money plant, held up by a network of popsicle sticks and what looked suspiciously like the tape wicket keepers used on their fingers, stood proudly in its new pot.  It was twice the size it was before, despite its extensive supports, and its leaves glowed a healthy deep green.  A tiny note was pinned under its pot.  Matt picked it up, curiously.  Corey's familiar left-handed scrawl.

_You can't love something too much, Matty._


End file.
